Thursday, March 16, 2017

IRL : Philomena Lee ‘appalled’ at Tuam revelations

Philomena Lee has said she is “appalled” by the revelations at Tuam,
Co Galway, and said all institutions that dealt with unmarried women
need to be examined.

Ms
Lee, whose life story was made into an Oscar-nominated movie, was in
Sean Ross Abbey Mother and Baby Home where she raised her son for three
years before he was adopted to the US. They never saw each other again
despite both of them searching for each other at the same time.

Ms Lee said the discovery of a “significant number” of infant remains
had affected her badly since she heard the news.

“I was absolutely
appalled. I still can’t comprehend it at all. I just cannot get over it.
It really is appalling. It has affected me quite badly really thinking
through on my own story. When I look back on my own story, at least I
found my Anthony but lots of the women that were involved and who had
babies there will never, never know what happened to them no matter how
much they try to find out,” she said. She said when she was in Sean Ross
Abbey, the issue of children who died was never mentioned.

“If any of the babies died where I was in Roscrea, we never knew. We
never knew what happened to them. We never even thought about it I
suppose really. What we were concerned about was our own babies and the
running of our everyday lives that we had to spend there. I think it’s
terrible they’ll never be able to find out.”

“A lot of them have tried, I know, in Roscrea and they have come
up against a brick wall. They’re either told they don’t know anything
about it or they don’t have any records of anything. That’s what I think
about a lot. At least, I had some records.”

Last week, the Irish Examiner revealed that the names, ages
and causes of death of 260 children and nine women who died at the
institution between 1934 and 1967 were handed to the HSE by the Order
that ran the home in 2011. Ms Lee said she had simply wanted to find her
son and had never thought about the issue of redress or a State
apology.

“The thought of compensation never entered my mind at all and even an
apology never entered my mind. All I was ever interested in throughout
my whole life was finding him, finding out what happened to him and he
was buried in Roscrea nine years before I even knew he was there.

“Nobody ever let me know and I was only an hour away by flight,” she said.